Filmmakers need to realise that not every hit film down south can guarantee a success in Bollywood. Susi Ganesh's couldn't have chosen a worse film than 'Shortcut Romeo' to make his foray into Bollywood. A remake of Ganesh's Tamil hit 'Thiruttu Payale', the film may have appeared to look slick in the trailers, but the reality is shockingly different.

Filmmakers need to realise that not every hit film down south can guarantee a success in Bollywood.

It's a simple plot. Suraj (Mukesh), a good for nothing fellow, spots a millionaire's wife (Ameesha Patel) doing hanky panky with her husband's friend at the neighbourhood golf course. He films the two while they are at it, and decides to live off Ameesha's money for the rest of his life. He is high-maintenance and even treats his friends off Ameesha's money and takes them on world tour. The four men are shown in front of several pictures of exotic locales (because for one shot, the producer did not want to fly the cast to these locales) and they try to convince us, the viewers, that they are actually there. The producer though did have money to send them to Kenya and there our hero meets his lady love (Pooja Gupta). Few songs with the Masai tribe and our hero realizes that his lady love has been kidnapped by Ameesha and he has been framed in some weird case in the middle of an African country. Now, you would ask why did Ameesha have to send him to Kenya to embroil him in a false case? I had the same question but well...never mind.

The lead cast, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Ameesha Patel and Pooja Gupta try a bit too hard to fit into their characters. It is unfortunate to see a genuine actor like Niel Nitin Mukesh, who had shown so much promise in his debut film 'Johny Gaddar' getting wasted in a bad film like this. He is no Akshay Kumar, neither is he a Khan, so for him to fit into a tried and tested formula is not a good idea. The stunt sequences, where Mukesh almost takes up goons double his size- a la Rajinikanth style, are absolutely cringe worthy-simply because the role does not suit this actor.

Ameesha Patel pouts and heaves throughout the film. Sparks of 'Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai' act are there as well, which is really not a good thing, considering that was a decade back and as an actor one needs to grow, not go backwards. Pooja Gupta's performance is almost dismal. And someone should tell these filmmakers to stop using the same voiceover artist for every actress- Katrina Kaif, Nargis Fakhri and now Pooja Gupta.

Lack of a good script, a loose screenplay, predictable twists and horrible editing makes 'Shortcut Romeo' literally an ordeal to watch. Songs are forced into the narrative, the actors try hard to emote but fail miserably and even the director, who makes a cameo, can't salvage this lost cause.

Watch it only if you have no other movie to watch this weekend. I'd rather suggest you to stay at home, actually.